From 7/29 onwards, humanity will live on credit, as it has already consumed all the natural resources (water, land, clean air) that the planet offers, in addition to the planet's capacity for sustainable renewal. The day was also considered the day that the planet “entered the red”, as the resources used from now on will no longer be recovered.
The so-called Overload Day, a calculation carried out by the organization Global Footprint Network and held since 1986, it arrived two months earlier than 20 years ago and is brought forward each year on the calendar. In 1993, it occurred on October 21; in 2003, on September 22; and in 2017, August 2nd.
“The fact that Earth Overshoot Day is July 29th means that Humanity currently uses ecological resources 1.75 times faster” than the capacity of ecosystems to regenerate, highlights the NGO in a statement. “We waste our planet’s natural capital, at the same time reducing its future capacity for regeneration”, also warns the organization.
“The cost of this global economic burden is becoming increasingly evident with deforestation, soil erosion, loss of biodiversity and the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This leads to climate change and more frequent extreme weather phenomena”, explains the organization.
Modes of consumption present huge differences between countries. “Qatar reached its overload day after 42 days, while Indonesia consumed all resources for the entire year after 342,” highlights WWF, associated with the Global Footprint Network. “If everyone lived like the French, they would need 2.7 planets”, and if everyone adopted the American way of consumption, five Earths would be needed.
According to WWF, “by reducing CO2 emissions by 50%, we could save 93 days a year, that is, delay Earth Overload Day until October”.
Overload day arrives earlier and earlier
In relation to 2018, this limit was reached three days earlier – the date was recorded on August 1st. The calculation of the overload day is made by the international entity Global Footprint Network (GFN). To arrive at the result, the total resources that the planet is capable of producing in a year is divided by humanity's demand in the same year, considering the number of days in the year.
“With the day arriving earlier and earlier in the year, and with the increasing volume of CO2 emissions, the importance of decisive actions becomes increasingly evident”, warns Chile's Minister of the Environment, María Carolina Schmidt Zaldívar, who is also president of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Climate Convention (COP25), which will be held in Santiago in December.
“A situation that is increasingly impoverishing the earth and breaking the balance of nature and the future of man himself”, he states to Vatican News website Alfonso Cauteruccio, president of Greenaccord, a Christian non-governmental entity that works to raise awareness of environmental issues.
It is possible for each individual to calculate their ecological footprint, which was created to help understand how much of nature's resources each person uses to support their lifestyle. The ecological footprint can be calculated on the Foot Print Calculator.
